Always A Princess
by Original Dark Angel
Summary: Third Installment of the Silver Eyes Trilogy. It is the Twins First Year at Hogwarts, and Cassie Starr is determined to be an individual instead of a twin. This includes a rival. How about Derek Potter? Complete.
1. Reluctant Gemini

**Always A Princess **

**By: Original Dark Angel**

"Something about her attitude makes me think there's a bit of Slytherin in her."

-Ronald Weasley, _Reunion of a Family_

Chapter 1: Reluctant Gemini

A red haired girl with silver eyes hurried down a hall towards a painting of an elderly, but sharp-eyed witch. Her sister was calling her and she had to get into her secret room before the other girl caught sight of her. Once within hearing distance of the portrait, she murmured, "Reluctant Gemini."

The witch gave a short nod, and with a conspiring grin, whispered back, "I'll point her the other way, Cassie Starr."

"Thank you, Great-Grandmother." Cassandra Starr Malfoy slid through the narrow portrait hole and heaved a sigh of relief as her twin sister's voice was cut off sharply by the closing portrait and the silencing spell placed on it.

Cassie wasn't a mean person. She loved her sister dearly and was just as fiercely protective of her twin as Julie was of her. But every now and then the twin thing ran a little thin. Julie loved being exactly the same, wearing identical clothing, finishing each other's sentences, and doing things together. Cassie loved being different.

She collapsed on a sofa in pale mint green. It had been a long and difficult fight to secure her this private space. Her mother was afraid that she would have a seizure and no one would be able to get to her. But her father understood and after arranging that the portrait would allow someone entrance in event of an emergency, gave her the room for her own. She had designed it herself; filling it with the color green that was so out of place in the bedroom she shared with Julie. Her parents had compromised with their nursery and painted it blue, which Julie of course loved. Cassie didn't mind blue, but when given the chance to pick out her own things, she always got green to differentiate herself from her twin.

She could hang out in here until dinner, but that would give her a three-hour respite from Julie's fantasies about everything they would do (together of course) at Hogwarts. Julie was positive that they would both be Ravenclaws and they could share top grades, and be chasers or beaters for the quidditch team together. Cassie thought that this was ridiculous. Both of them were only in their element as seeker, and since Cassie had no intention of being a Ravenclaw, she didn't see the problem of Julie taking the Ravenclaw seeker position and Cassie would hopefully take the Slytherin one. She never voiced this plan aloud, not even to her parents. They were careful not to let old house rivalries come between them, but if Cassie absolutely insisted on following only her father's footsteps . . . well, it could upset her mother and lead to a fight. But if the Sorting Hat placed her in Slytherin then neither one could complain. Theoretically.

No matter what, someone would be hurt, but Cassie was no Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor just didn't fit her even though she wasn't afraid of anything but losing her individuality. Slytherin did fit her. As children, Julie was pegged the wild twin and the troublemaker, but she only followed Cassie's careful plans of mischief. While Julie grew up to become an overly enthusiastic bookworm, Cassie kept planning and creating problems neatly without ever getting caught. She just had a way about her that would ensure getting her way all the time. Only her father could recognize this talent in her, although he was in no way immune to the effect. That was half the fun.

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.**


	2. Separated By Sorting

Chapter 2: Separated By Sorting

Cassie grinned and poked Vanessa Goyle in the side and pointed to the raven-haired boy in the next crowd over. "Recognize him, 'Nessa?"

The blonde shook her head, but continued to study him. Krystle Nott leaned over and whispered, "Isn't that Derek Patil, your old nursemaid's son?"

Cassie smirked. "Uh-huh. But it's Derek Potter now. Since he was too good for the Malfoy's, Uncle Harry adopted him. Mum was afraid he'd go to a home, so she called in a favor. How much you want to bet that he'll fight his way into Gryffindor?"

"Cassie Starr, you're going to get us kicked out in a week! No gambling inside of Hogwarts," Krystle gasped.

"I'm not talking galleons or anything, Kryst," Cassie sneered. "A sickle says that he has to fight his way into Gryffindor."

Vanessa nodded. "I'll take that bet. A sickle says that the hat screams Gryffindor the second it touches his head." Vanessa turned to Krystle and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Are you in or out?"

Krystle hung her head. "In. A sickle says that he's sorted into Ravenclaw like his mum."

"Excellent, ladies. Pleasure doing business with you," Cassie teased as she wrote down the terms. She had just finished when McGonagall returned with a long roll of parchment and ordered them to follow her.

"Andrews, Rune."

**"SLYTHERIN!"**

Excellent, this was done alphabetically. Not only would she be able to watch Derek's sorting, but Julie wouldn't be able to try talking the hat into placing her in Slytherin as well. Few knew that when Cassie was born, the witch in charge of paperwork had spelled the name with a K. Though her mother had fixed it right away, her original birth certificate and the Hogwarts registry would always read Kassandra Starr Malfoy.

"Landwell, Erica."

**"RAVENCLAW!"**

"Malfoy, Julianna."

Julie leapt forward, gave a bright smile and pulled the hat over her head. After a minute the hat spit out, **"RAVENCLAW!"**

Julie hurried off to her new table with a grin and sat between two kids her age, but saving a space. Cassie bit her lip and looked away from her sister, as McGonagall cleared her throat. "Malfoy, Cassandra Starr."

Cassie cleared her mind and placed the hat on her head. "Ha, another one. Part Weasley and Part Malfoy, an uncertain mix to be sure. Makes it most difficult to sort you. I put your sister in Ravenclaw, but you're nothing like her, are you? Your father's blood won out in you. Detached, serious, cunning, and always hiding. "You are definitely Draco's daughter, that's for sure. If he hadn't been so set on Slytherin, it would have been a hard choice between Slytherin and Gryffindor. But you are just as ready for the challenge."

**"SLYTHERIN!"**

Cassie's grin was met by Julie's shocked stare, and slowly Cassie's excitement dissipated as she faced Julie's betrayed expression. The Slytherin table was cheering, but Cassie felt horrible now about hurting her sister. McGonagall took the hat from her, and Cassie shook herself mentally. She smirked proudly and descended the steps haughtily, sauntering slowly over to her table. The new first years patted her back, and the older Slytherin students looked thrilled to have a Malfoy among them. She took a seat next to Vanessa and turned back to watch a blushing Krystle become a Slytherin.

"Potter, Derek."

Cassie frowned. Did McGonagall misread? The Hogwarts registry should have said-well, not Derek Patil, but Derek whoever-the-heck-his-biological-father-was, since it was taken from the enchanted birth certificates in the hall of records. Then the answer came to her and she scowled. Uncle Harry must have paid McGonagall not to reveal Derek's true last name so that he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of the school. No one else seemed to have noticed so she kept her seething resentment at the blatant use of money, which the boy claimed to detest to herself, albeit reluctantly. Derek was still arguing with the hat, and she smirked. As long as Derek won the fight, she would be two sickles richer tonight.

**"GRYFFINDOR!"**

She tapped her friend's shoulders. "Pay up."

"Malfoy!"

"Potter." Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Sort of, anyway?"

Derek Potter flushed. Julie gasped. "Cassandra Starr Weasley-Malfoy! How could you say such a mean spiteful thing?"

"Actually, it comes so naturally around him," Cassie replied coolly, inwardly raging that Julie would use their mother's maiden name as part of their titles. Didn't her twin realize that they were Malfoys? "He has that effect on most people." Potter reached for her, but she sidestepped him, sidling over next to Rune and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you agree, Rune?"

Potter turned even redder. "I'd rather be an adopted son of anyone than actually related to a Malfoy," he hissed. "At least my dad was a Gryffindor war hero instead of a spoiled Slytherin prince. It looks like we're both following in their footsteps, little 'Princess,'" he added spitefully. "I'm just better off. So by your leave, 'Your Highness.'" He mock-bowed and left laughing with his friends.

Cassie stood erect, bit back her tears, and responded, "Have it your way, Servant-boy." She was fuming inside. Princess was her father's nickname for her, taken from her beloved book 'The Little Princess.' How dare he attempt to ruin it?

The insult worked. Derek whipped around yelling, "I'm no one's servant!"

"No, that would have been your mother," she said coldly, "as MY nursemaid." She turned around and stepped into the Potions room. "Professor."

"Potter, you wouldn't be considering hitting a fellow student, let alone a female one. Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said in his icy tone. Cassie smirked at Derek, and took her seat, fully aware of the fact that Derek was directly behind her and reaching for her braid. If she didn't watch it, she would be washing ink out of her hair tonight. She pulled her braid over her shoulder, and returned her attention to Snape's lecture.

While brewing the potion that they had been assigned, she allowed her mind to wander back to the incident in the corridor. She bit her lip guiltily. She had liked Padma. It was just Derek that she detested. He was so proud. He hated that his mother was forced to work as a servant for the Malfoys despite the excellent benefits the job offered and it having been created to offer Padma a way to provide for them and pay hospital bills. His father had left before he had been born, and to the best of her knowledge, Derek didn't even know who it was. Although Draco and Ginny Malfoy had offered to adopt him when Padma died of the war-inflicted disease two years ago, but Derek didn't want anything to do with the Malfoys. Harry Potter had materialized out of nowhere and adopted Derek. Cassie suspected her parents had contacted Harry and pleaded for him to adopt the boy, for although Harry was fond of Derek, he was a single man who loved his career and freedom. It was Derek's dearest wish to prove that he was worthy of his father's love and the Potter surname.

"POTTER! Did you not hear me say that one tiger eye would be enough!" Snape came flying at the boy, and Cassie tuned them out by falling into a daydream.

_**Flashback** _

_"Padma! You forgot to braid my hair."_

_"I'm sorry, Cassie Starr. Let me finish making the beds and then I'll get to it." Cassie chose silver ribbons for her long braid and sat in the rocking chair. Padma had just sat down when there was a knocking at the nursery door. "Run and get it, please, Cassie Starr."_

_Cassie pulled the door open to reveal one of the house-elves with bony fingers pulling Padma's son along behind him. Apples spilled from the boy's pockets. "Derek's in trouble again!" Cassie announced in a singsong voice._

_"Not the apple trees again, Derek," Padma sighed, standing slowly and painfully._

_"Not just the apple trees, ma'am," the elf said darkly, giving a pointed look at Cassie. "Good morning, Miss Cassie Starr."_

_Padma turned to her. "Cassie Starr, could you please look like Julie, just for today?" Cassie nodded reluctantly. "Good girl. Now run along."_

_Reluctantly, Cassie slipped out and shut the door behind her. She sat down and waited. She could hear pieces of conversation through the thick door. "That rosebush happens to be one of the Lady Malfoy's favorites. She planted that with the young mistresses when they first came to Malfoy Manor." And "He didn't mean to."_

_About half an hour later, Derek emerged and spotted her. "What are you doing here?" he spat. "Were you spying?"_

_"It's my house."_

_He grabbed her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. "Tell me what you're doing here!"_

_"I wanted my hair braided," she admitted._

_This only seemed to make him angrier and he started shaking her hard. "Don't you even ask her! How dare you! She's not a house-elf to serve your every whim! You Malfoys think that you're better than us! You're not!"_

_His shaking got too harsh and her head collided with the wall, bringing tears to her eyes as she cried out, "She's my nanny!"_

_Derek dropped her, allowing her to crumple to the floor, whether out of shame or disgust, she didn't know, but he stood over her, hands clenched. "She's MY mother."_

_"Princess? Do you want breakfast?" came from the bottom of the stairs._

_Cassie climbed to her feet and edged around Derek. "Daddy! Daddy!"_

_"Princess?" Draco appeared at the top of the stairs at a dead run, having heard the fear and tears in her voice._

_Cassie ran into her father's arms, burying her face in his shirt. "Daddy. Daddy. Daddy." He rocked her gently back and forth. Padma had appeared and tried to touch her, to calm her down, but Cassie shrunk away, sobbing and clinging to her father even tighter. Neither adult had to ask what had caused the dark bruises on her arms. Padma hurried Derek away, and Draco carried her to her mum._

_**End Flashback**_

Cassie shook away the memory. She had suffered a seizure later that day and even though the doctors insisted that the blow had nothing to do with it, she was never left alone around Derek again. She never let Padma braid her hair again either. If she couldn't get a house-elf to do it, then she let it go free. It was bad memories.

Cassie cleaned her cauldron and walked out of the classroom. Two feet from the door, Derek grabbed her arm. Without hesitation, she dropped her books and screamed. Snape was in the hall and a gang of Slytherin First and Second Years surrounded them before he could drop her arm.

"Potter, Release her this instant! Twenty points from Gryffindor! Miss Malfoy, are you alright?"

"I'm fine now. Thank you." Snape disappeared and Cassie turned to Derek. "Don't ever touch me again. I'll never forget those marks you left last time."

She watched as memory came back and his face flushed. "Bloody Hell! That was four years ago! We were seven!"

"And you were already a bully. Don't mess with me. Potter. As you said, I'm Draco Malfoy's daughter. That makes me the Slytherin Princess." She stalked away surrounded by the crew of Slytherin boys who worshipped the ground she walked on.


	3. Showdown

Chapter 3: Showdown

Cassie dove for the Snitch, spinning out of the dive at the last possible second, the golden snitch clasped in her fingers. Dumbledore had finally abolished the 'no brooms for first years' rule, and Michael Flint had wasted no time in drafting her for the Slytherin Team. She was the only girl and by far the smallest. She was a good foot shorter than the shortest previous player and so thin, that they could have made two uniforms in her size out of the one that had been given to her. With Krystle and Vanessa's help, she had finally managed to make it fit.

She loved the constant activity of the game and she won praise for her quick catches. Practice was finally over and she trudged over to the bleachers where Julie sat waiting patiently. "Sorry, Jules, but we are so going to crush you tomorrow. Did you see that dive? And Flint didn't miss a single shot."

"Gryffindor will take you down."

Cassie whirled around to face smug, smirking, self-satisfied Potter. "Oh, yeah? I heard they made you seeker. Guess they're focusing their energies on the House Cup this year rather than the Quidditch Cup."

"I'll have you know that I'm quite good. After all, my dad's the best. Plays for England, didn't you know?"

"As Uncle Harry sends me postcards, I figured it out, but nobody bests this Malfoy. Both Julie and I will totally crush you. Jules is just as good a seeker as I am."

"We'll see if you change your tune after the final match in the spring. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. See you two around."

Cassie swore in Latin, French, and Romanian as he strutted off. When she finally reached English in her litany, Julie put her hand over her twin's mouth. "Don't. You know one of the teachers will hear about it if you swear in English. Go kick his butt later in Uncle Severus's class, okay?"

Cassie nodded and stepped back. "I need a shower, so I'll meet you in the Great Hall for dinner." Her twin shrugged and walked away chatting with Erica, so she disappeared into the locker room. Very quietly, she picked the lock to Derek's locker and put some of Uncle Fred's itching powder in Derek's practice clothes. Then she wiped the surface of his locker clean and returned to her own locker as the rest of the team staggered in. "Flint, does Gryffindor have the pitch after dinner?"

"Yeah, do you want me to ask Snape for a pass so we can practice more instead?" the tall boy asked in confusion. Usually his team hated to practice.

"Oh, no. But make sure you all come down after dinner to watch the show. Bring your friends."

A bare ghost of a smile flickered across Michael Flint's face. "I can't wait. I'll bring Alexa and the rest of the Fourth Years."

Rune dropped his bludger bat, and hugged her. "The First Years won't miss it. Is it Potter? I saw you talking to him outside."

She looked up at him innocently. "Is what Potter? You didn't hear anything from me." If they hadn't just heard her invite them down, heck even though they had heard her, they couldn't help half-believing her. Perfect.

Cassie stayed well above the game and out of the way of the bludgers. Julie waited down below the main action of the game. Cassie cheered when Flint scored yet another goal, after Rune took out the Keeper with a well-aimed bludger. They were ahead 170-30. One more goal and it wouldn't matter whether or not she got the snitch, not that she would miss. Just because her opponent was her sister didn't mean that she was going to give in, but she knew that Julie was good. Flint put the quaffle away a second time, and she dived after the tiny gold ball that she had been keeping an eye on and waiting for the score to go up or Julie to see it. The force of her dive almost threw her off the broom, but she gripped it tightly and forgot about everything but reaching the snitch. Julie had seen it as well and was heading up. They were each about ten feet away from the snitch . . . eight feet . . . six feet . . . and Julie veered just a little to the left. Cassie's fingers closed around the struggling ball as a strangled cry of surprise left her. The Slytherins were cheering, but she threw the ball aside and wheeled around on her sister. "You let me win!"

Julie shook her head. "No, you had it. Congratulations."

"It's not a win, when you step aside. You could have tied it and we'd be even. Youlet me win!" Cassie blinked back tears as her teammates surrounded her and started thumping her on the back. She pulled away. "It doesn't count! She-" The Slytherins didn't care. She dove down, drawing a couple of screams from the stands as she waited until three feet from the ground to level out, and leapt off of the broom. She held onto her haughty and proud demeanor as she stalked off of the field, waiting until she was behind the stands to run down to the lake and the tiny cave behind the waterfall. Then she flung herself down on the large rock and cried for a long time.

When she woke up, someone was next to her but it was too dark to tell who it was. "Wake-up, Princess."

"Daddy?" she whispered, even though she knew Draco was still stuck in Tokyo at a business meeting. It was why he had missed the game to begin with.

"No, come on." The mystery person pulled her to her feet and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to guide her. "Let's get you back up to the castle." She couldn't place the voice, was too tired and upset to do so.

"She let me win," she whispered. "I can't believe she did that to me."

The arm left her shoulders and rubbed circles on her back to comfort her. "I know."

"I could have beaten her. Anyway, she didn't need to throw it away. I could have won on my own. Now I'll never know for sure."

"You would have. She was fighting gravity. You weren't. Good choice to take the high ground."

"Air," she corrected sleepily. "High air. It's played on brooms, silly."

"Someone needs to go to bed," the arm continued to guide her through the corridors now, and reaching the portrait, muttered softly. "Angelus Diabla."

Cassie was suddenly standing in front of the girls' dormitory staircase. "Thanks, Rune." She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, before starting up.

"No problem, Princess."

She reached the top and collapsed into her bed only to sit up swiftly and stare at two of her three best friends. "Rune, never mind that this is the girls' dormitory. How on earth did you beat me up the steps?"

Rune looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You came down to the lake and got me and brought me back."

"I've been sitting with Vanessa since after dinner. Her father is in the hospital. He had a stroke." As Rune spoke, he shifted the blonde girl slightly off him and carried her gently over to the vacant bed, before returning to the window seat.

"That's awful, but if you didn't, then who did?" Cassie looked up in confusion. "It had to have been a Slytherin. No one else knows our password."

"It wasn't a first year. The girls are all up here, and Brayden, Carlos, and Tristan were asleep when I left."

"No one else knows that I go down there," she said in confusion.

"Could it have been your sister? What about Potter?" That was even more ludicrous than the idea that her sister would have the audacity to come after her when Cassie was in a mood and it was Julie's fault and she told Rune so. "Oh, come on, you know Potter's crushing on you. All those fights."

"Derek Potter has hated my guts since we were six years old. The feeling is entirely mutual. And even if a shred of humanity resides in that thick skull of his, which I doubt, there is no way he would be nice to me after I filled his uniform with itching powder. He got knocked off his broom by a bludger, for goodness sake."

"Maybe he doesn't know that it was you."

"Potter knows it was me. The whole school knows it was me. He just can't prove it," Cassie smirked, and then with a sigh got out of bed. "I've got to go ask Fagin to change the password just in case."

"I'll do it on my way to bed. Just keep an eye on 'Nessa."

"Will do."


	4. Christmas and Easter

Chapter 4: Christmas and Easter

Cassie climbed into their carriage and sat as far away from Julie as possible. She refused to have anything to do with her sister and had been operating under this mode since the disastrous quidditch match. She saw her parents look at each other and sigh, but did nothing to alleviate the tension. She wouldn't be at all surprised if Julie had written home all teary about the rift and hoping for sympathy. Julie had none from her. The morning after the match Julie had tried to act like nothing had changed, but Cassie set her straight in a heartbeat, using four languages, and words that would have made her dad blink. She had stalked away angry, only to hear a wolf whistle come from the Gryffindor table. She scowled in Derek Potter's direction and left without eating. Other Slytherins followed her lead, not taunting Julie, but not associating with her either.

As soon as they got home, Cassie followed her dad to his office, while her mum took Julie off to the kitchen. She dropped into the chair in front of his desk and waited for him to sit behind it. "I'm not sorry."

Draco sighed. "What are you not sorry about?"

"I'm not sorry that I yelled at her in front of the entire school or for the language I used, especially since she's probably the only person there who understood me. I'm not sorry for ignoring her since. She cheated."

"I understand that knowing there was the slightest chance she could have beaten you will upset you, Cassie, but she's your twin."

"Don't call me that! My name is Cassie Starr! I'm not Julie with a C. I'm not just a twin. I'm a Slytherin. I like green and dragons, and quidditch, and playing outside!" Draco sat back and surveyed her with that deadly quiet appraisal. "And . . . I want my own room."

Her father reached across the desk and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know that you're not just a twin, Princess. So does your mom. Do you feel like we've forgotten that?"

"Everyone's forgotten that," she whispered. "I don't want to be Julie and Cassie anymore. I want to be Cassie Starr all on my own. Julie won't let me."

Draco tipped her chin up. "I will speak with your mother and have the house-elves set up your secret chamber for your bedroom, Cassie Starr. I will also leave you and Julie to resolve this on your own, but there is one thing I will not tolerate. You have always been taught that Malfoys do not use language in the presence of a lady. I thought that it went without saying that a Malfoy lady never uses language. You will apologize to Julie for swearing if nothing else. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Daddy."

Cassie studied the changes to her room intently. She had moved all of her things from the nursery into here and took great delight in the fact that her new bed had a real canopy like the ones at school. Julie refused to leave the nursery and had watched Cassie sadly as she moved from the space that they had shared for six years. Cassie did not relent. She apologized at dinner for her language, but sat down immediately to send the silent message that this wasn't over and that she would never ever forgive Julie, not even for Christmas.

Cassie was relieved when spring break was upon them. Vanessa Goyle's father had died, forcing Draco to miss her match against Hufflepuff, but she didn't care since her best friend was going through something even worse. Cassie couldn't even imagine losing her father, and it was a comfort to return home where she could spend time with him, playing Wizard's Chess or Exploding Snap or something similar. She still wasn't friendly with Julie, but she was talking to her sister politely by now since there seemed to be no other available course of action at school.

Her first night home, she spent in the library researching a difficult potions essay for her Uncle Severus. She needed to find the seven uses of moonstone in combination with wolfsbane. Her father appeared behind her and withdrew a narrow maroon book from the shelf above her. "This has six of the seven listed, Princess. Give it to your sister when you're finished."

"Yes, daddy."

"Did you get to do any interesting pranks this quarter?"

"Uh-huh. I dyed McGonagall's hair pink at breakfast, but she didn't realize it until dinner and it took her two days to figure out the correct antidote."

"Should I ask how?" he murmured amusedly. "Or would it be safer if I didn't?" Cassie just smirked. "Have you had any trouble with Derek lately?"

Sadly no, Derek seemed to be sidetracked with keeping his head above the water in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts so he could stay on the quidditch team and therefore had been almost-dare she say it-civil for the last few months. She couldn't tell her father that though. Her tales of rivalry with Derek made both of them laugh. She cast about in her head for something heinous to elaborate on and recalled the Sorting incident.

"Not lately, cause he's having trouble with classes, but did I ever tell you about what happened at his sorting? Uncle Harry paid McGonagall not to reveal Derek's true last name so that he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of his school. It was nice of him to do that for Derek, but I thought that it was really hypocritical for Derek to use money to get his way, when he wouldn't stay with us just because we had money."

Her father had gotten a strange look on his face. "McGonagall called him Derek Patil, or did she call him Derek Potter?"

"Derek Potter of course. Derek likes to brag that he's Uncle Harry's adopted son, remember?" she asked a little confused.

"Start on your essay, Cassandra Starr. I need to go talk to your mother."

"But Daddy!" She was too late. Her father was already gone. What on earth was going on around here?


	5. Accidental Discoveries

Chapter 5: Accidental Discoveries

After dinner, Cassie deserted Derek and Julie to follow the adults to the study. By the time she reached the spot behind the sofa from the secret passageway, there was some interesting yelling going on.

**"I never slept with Padma Patil That kid isn't mine! I don't know what on eart is going on here, but don't try to tell me who I have and haven't slept with!"** Harry stopped to take a breath, and immediately turned on Draco. **"Unlike some people, I know whether or not I've reproduced!"**

"This isn't about Ginny and me or the twins, Harry. You know the registry comes from enchanted birth records. It can't be a screw up, because his last name is Potter. You're the last of the Potters, Harry."

"It could be anyone. Potter is a very common name."

"Not among wizards, and the certificate doesn't list muggles. You know that. It was designed to find an heir for the prominent families."

"That's all well and good, but I can't be his father because I never slept with Padma Patil. What is it going to take to get through to you?"

"Harry, if you look at Derek, he has a lot of his mum's features, but . . . he has green eyes. Just like you and your mum," Ginny whispered hesitantly. "Are you absolutely sure that . . . drunk maybe? You and Ron partied pretty hard after the war."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "After defeating the most evil wizard of the century, I think that I've earned the right to have a little fun without listening to criticism for it. I took the boy as a favor to you two, not to become a family man. He's not really mine! I'm just giving him a place to stay because I owed one to Parvati, and her nephew is all that's left. If you want him to have a cute little family with a dad, then you should have taken him instead."

Cassie heard a soft sound and turned around, still keeping behind the sofa so that the adults didn't see her. Derek stood in the entrance, and by the look on his face had heard everything. He dropped the glass that he was holding, but Cassie was up before it hit the floor, crying out, "Derek!"

The adults' heads whipped around and she heard both of their names called, but she ignored it in favor of chasing her worst enemy, because it turned out that he was just a little boy who had gotten hurt in the worst possible way. She lost him outside but headed for the apple trees at the west side of the garden. Derek always got in trouble for climbing them when they were small. No sign of the boy. Cassie found him a few rows over, staring at the rosebush. "Derek?" He didn't move. After weighing her options she stepped forward and placed a slim hand on his shoulder. "Derek, please?" He finally looked up at her. "What are you doing?"

"I broke this bush so many times. I fell on it, kicked it, pulled it apart, and snapped off limbs just for the heck of it. I took out my fury on it, and tried to trample it down where I couldn't see it anymore. But it's still here and more beautiful than ever, and now the thorns are so long and sharp that if I touch it, it will cut me deeply."

"My mum took care of it. Used magic to heal it and strengthen it."

"Taught it to defend itself."

"We're not talking about just rosebushes, are we?" Cassie plopped on the grass and motioned for him to move next to her.

"No. I'm such an idiot." He reached over and pushed her sleeves up. "Reveal priori marks." The dark purple angry bruises of long ago showed up vividly against her pale skin, although she felt no pain. "I never really thought about what I was doing to you. I hated you. You had parents who loved you, a twin who adored you, and my mother's complete attention. And your dad spent so much time with you. I didn't even know who mine was. I took out all my fury on you because I thought you were stuck up about it. That day I lashed out as hard as I could, and I hurt you. You were so scared and I didn't see it, didn't stop myself. When I heard the crack and realized what I'd done, saw you crumple to the floor like that, I had never felt so awful in my life. I couldn't believe I did something so cruel to a little girl. And then all of a sudden your dad was there and I was jealous again."

"It was a long time ago."

"How could you have forgiven me?"

"I never realized how badly you were hurting before. I've done some nasty things to you like that itching powder."

"I knew that was you."

"Oh, yeah? Prove it."

He laughed stiffly, and sobered immediately. "I've been trying so hard to be just like him all year and now I think that I've finally found him in me. What a temper he has. Just like mine."

"Did you know?"

"I suspected. Since I was little. My mother would never ever go near him when he visited you guys, but she remembered him so fondly. I figured that I would find out when I went to Hogwarts, but then she died and I panicked. I thought that if I absolutely refused to live with you, then they would have to find my father. But they didn't know either. At first I thought Mr. Potter came because he knew I was his son, but then I realized that he didn't know, didn't care. Isn't that a laugh? Dobby watches me. When he's actually home, I call him Mr. Potter or Sir because that's all he really wants to be to me whether I'm his kid or not. Then McGonagall called out his name and I knew, but I was too afraid to tell him. Some Gryffindor I am. He doesn't want me and he never did."

"You can cry. I won't tell."

"No, he doesn't deserve crying. I haven't lost anything because I never had it to begin with."

"Seems like a good enough reason to cry to me. And maybe Uncle Harry doesn't deserve it, but you deserve the chance to cry. You never cried. Ever. When you were in trouble, when Uncle Severus is mean to you, not even when your mother died."

"And I'm not going to start now," he said determinedly. "I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself. I'll ask your parents to find me another home and apologize to them for not taking them up on their offer when I was nine. Come on. Lets go in." He pulled her to her feet and started back towards the house only to turn back abruptly. "For the record, Princess, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted. And thanks for coming to get me after that Quidditch game."

"Somebody had to. That was really lousy of your sister to do that to you."

"I'm over it. After all, we totally creamed Hufflepuff, and Puffer never even saw me coming. I'm actually looking forward to crushing Gryffindor next month."

"Never happen."

"Watch me."

"You're on."

The light-hearted banter dissipated as they reached the house. Taking a deep breath, Derek squeezed her hand one last time, before pushing open the study door. All three adults looked up at them with relief. Draco stood by the fireplace, consulting the map of the property. Ginny sat at the desk, and Harry sat on the sofa, shoulders bowed and head sunk in shame. Cassie went and sat beside him, and gestured for him to look Derek in the eye.

"I'm sorry that you heard that, Derek. It came out wrong while we were fighting and I apologize. I'll make it up to you tomorrow. You can come to work with me, meet the team and all that."

"I accept the apology but not the terms. You can't make something like that go away. Nothing will ever make up for it." Derek stood ramrod straight, and looked the man straight in the eye. "Nothing."

"Look, we'll talk about it tomorrow. I have an early practice so we've got to get home . . ."

"I'm not going home with you. After I apologize to Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy, I'm going back to school until summer. Then . . . I don't know. There's got to be somewhere I can go. Maybe Mr. And Mrs. Longbottom will let me come home with Alan for the summer."

"This is ridiculous. You can still stay at the house. I'm not kicking you out or anything."

"I'm not staying with you any longer. My mother taught me pride. I only want one thing from you. I want my birth certificate. I want to know for sure who my parents were. If you are my birth father, then you can get it from the Hall of Records," Derek shrugged. "If you're not, then I guess it doesn't matter anymore."

Draco stepped forward and placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "We'll go after your birth certificate tonight, but no matter what it says, you're not going back to school tonight. You'll stay here. If you still need someplace to stay this summer, consider the manor your home."

"I couldn't accept your hospitality after I threw it in your face last time, sir."

"I insist, Derek. Stay with Cassie Starr and Mrs. Malfoy. I'll be back in a little while. Come on, Harry." Draco hauled the shorter man to his feet and pulled him toward the fireplace. "Hall of Records."

They took a long time. Cassie almost fell asleep, but Derek didn't so much as twitch from his place by the fire. No prompt from Ginny or Cassie could convince him to sit. Finally the fire flared green again and the men stumbled from it. Harry collapsed on the sofa a beaten man. Draco wordlessly handed the paper to Derek.

"Derek Andrei Potter born the thirteenth of December, 2006, son of Harry James Potter, and Parvati Shiva Patil." Derek's voice shook. "My mother's name doesn't matter to me. Padma or Parvati, she was my mother. You're my father, sir, and I apologize, but I am a Potter." He turned to Ginny. "Mrs. Malfoy, I'm tired. Can I go lay down in my old room?"

"You're staying in the nursery with Julie and me," Cassie said sharply. "Don't even try to weasel out of it." She jumped up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders defiantly. "We're going to bed. Good night all."

Julie looked shocked when Cassie appeared in the nursery doorway, and even more so when she saw her leading Derek. "It's not permanent," Cassie warned. "We do need separate rooms, but Derek needs someone tonight." Julie just nodded. Cassie felt grateful for once that she was a twin. Julie didn't need to ask questions, she just trusted Cassie's judgement. Cassie dragged the mattresses off the beds and onto the floor, adding the mess of pillows and blankets to them. She sent Julie to the linen closet for more, and then she sat down and made herself comfortable leaning against the nightstand. Derek wordlessly sat beside her and all it took was Julie's sympathetic squeeze of the hand and he started to cry. With his head nestled in Cassie's lap, he cried himself hoarse while both twins petted his hair and murmured soft words of comfort.


	6. Working Things OutFinal Moment

Chapter 6: Working Things Out

Cassie stood proudly on the platform with Derek in between her and Julie, submitting reluctantly to the hugs and kisses her mother bestowed generously. Not even Derek escaped. Draco had hugged and kissed each of his daughters good-bye and now placed a hand on Derek's shoulder. "Our home is your home for as long as you need it," he repeated sternly. "If you need help, do not hesitate to call me or Mrs. Malfoy." He handed the boy a silver lighter similar to Cassie and Julie's. "I'd wager you know how this works. Good luck with your exams, andall of you, behave." The second Ginny was turned around, he mouthed, "And don't forget to send me a Hogwarts toilet seat." All three of the preteens stifled their giggles, and boarded the train.

Halfway through the ride, Cassie found the Slytherin Quidditch Team leaning on the Gryffindor one, and immediately intervened. "The others are fair game, but Derek is under the protection of the Malfoy name from now on."

Two weeks later, Uncle Harry appeared in Defense Against the Dark Arts and asked for Derek. Unaware of the situation, Professor Saber allowed him to withdraw Derek despite Cassie's instinctive protest. She ignored the sputtering professor with now pink hair and ran after them, pausing only long enough to sound their secret knock on the Transfiguration classrooms door to get Julie's attention. They found Uncle Harry and Derek in the next corridor. Derek looked like he was about to cry and Cassie reached for her silver lighter, but Derek beat her to it and turned away from Harry after activating it. He saw Cassie and Julie and tried to give a cocky grin, but didn't quite manage it.

Cassie walked over and hugged him. "Come on. Mum and Dad will be here soon. Let's go meet them in Dumbledore's office, okay?"

Uncle Harry looked down at them and nodded. "This wasn't such a good idea after all. Let's see if your parents can help us straighten this out."

They all ended up in Dumbledore's office, where Draco and Ginny fussed appropriately over Derek and Dumbledore assured Cassie that there would be no detention for Professor Saber's hair color, providing the antidote showed up before dinner.

They were sent out so that the adults could work out a plan to help settle things permanently, but Cassie hung back long enough to hear Uncle Harry say that it had been a one time thing with Parvati because he thought that she had died in the last battle the very next day and was shocked to find out that it wasn't true.

Her mum sounded shocked when she mumbled something about "Supposed to be asleep that night."

Uncle Harry sounded clueless when he said. "Whoever said I was sleeping?"

Chapter 7: One Final Moment

Cassie ducked a bludger and slipped up behind Derek with a smirk. A second later he realized that she was there and spun wildly. With a wicked smirk, she blew him a kiss as she dove after the snitch. He was on her tail in a second. This was the biggest competition between them, and though they had reached a friendly understanding, neither of them would give in. Draco had finally made it to one of Cassie's games and was cheering wildly for her and once in a while, he remembered to cheer for Derek too, but Cassie refused to lose the only game her father could come to. Uncle Harry sat in the stands too, watching Derek. After a few weeks of careful contact, Derek finally sat down with his father and they talked the last few years out. Their relationship would never be the way Derek had bragged so longingly about in the beginning of the year, but they were talking. The current arrangement for the summer was that Derek would stay with the Malfoys during the week, and return to the Potter house on weekends until he felt comfortable staying with Harry all the time. While he now understood that he was not and could never be his father, he still wanted to win the quidditch match to make the man proud. Derek and Ginny had also had a long talk about being unable to buy, earn, or win love, along with what was healthy competition.

Right now, Cassie and Derek were neck and neck, ten feet from the snitch. They reached out. Cassie's left hand closed around a wing at the same time that Derek's right hand caught the other wing. There was not even a second between their catches. The stands erupted in a frenzy of cheers as the two first years stared at the ball and at each other. Slytherin was forty points ahead, but they had both caught the snitch. Identical smirks lit up their faces, and they spun simultaneously into a dive, never releasing the snitch.

Upon landing, they were surrounded by their teams, both celebrating the two-way catch of the snitch, the first in Hogwarts history. Both ended up riding on their captains' shoulders up to the top box, where Dumbledore gravely awarded Slytherin the Quidditch Cup and announced that Cassandra Starr Malfoy and Derek Andrei Potter would both be added to Hogwarts, A History for their feat, and a party would be held in the Great Hall during dinner.

"Bye, Rune! Have a good summer! I'll see you in September!" Cassie laughed and spun around to face Derek. "This year went by so fast, I can't believe that we're Second Years now!" She squealed in her excitement and hugged him impetuously, before standing back and studying him closely. "Do you have your Defense Against the Dark Arts homework to work on?" she asked in perfect imitation of her mum.

"Yeah," Derek murmured in response. "Mr. Pot-Harry said that he'd help me with it if I need it. He was really good in that class when he was at Hogwarts, but I'll wait to work on potions with you and Julie so Snape can't fail me." He hefted the dark blue backpack that held his Defense Against the Dark Arts Textbook, some parchment, his quills, and Exploding Snap pack, along with two of the latest Marvin the Mad Muggle comics which Cassie had smuggled in there. His clothes for the weekend were tossed into a matching duffle bag at his feet, so the Malfoys could take his trunk home with them and the twins would unpack it for him. After a moment of holding everything he was feeling inside he hugged her again, and whispered, "I'm kind of nervous." Cassie didn't blame him. After what had happened during the last break, he probably didn't want to go back to his dad's for a very long time. He looked like the slightest problem would cause him to cry, so Cassie kissed his cheek lightly and wrapped his fingers tightly around his lighter, which she had removed from his front pocket.

"If you need us, use this. If the weekend thing doesn't work out, then you come home, and we'll come up with something else." She smirked and squeezed his other hand tightly. "And I mean it, Derek Andrei Potter. It's the weekend and he's supposed to spend it with you. He promised. If the only person you see is Dobby, then I'm going to come get you myself."

"Okay," he laughed softly, feeling much better after her orders. "See you Monday."

"See you Monday. Have a good weekend. Bye Derek!" Cassie watched him follow Uncle Harry and turned back to Julie. "What a year, huh, Jules? My sister becomes my enemy and back again, while my enemy becomes one of my best friends and practically my brother. Not to mention the fact that I kissed Rune Andrews on the train ride home." Cassie watched her sister's mouth drop.

"You did what!"

"I kissed Rune Andrews on the train ride home and then Derek threatened to kill him if he broke my heart."

Her twin started to bounce up and down like a Mexican jumping bean. "I want to hear every single detail, absolutely everything, Cassandra Starr, so spill immediately!"

"You'll have to catch me first," Cassie teased, taking off in the direction of her parents. "Good luck, sister dear."

"You are so dead, when I get a hold of you, Cassie Starr!"

**The End.**

**A/N: That's the last of the trilogy. Hope you liked it. As always, R&R. It keeps me sane and inspires me. With love, The _Original Dark Angel_**


End file.
